Stone Brewing Company - Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Russian Stout, 2 Ways

Stone's a bit of an odd brewery in that, for as long as I've been a fan, they've never really had a big barrel-aging program OR a sour program. I say this is odd because it seems like the majority of trending breweries out there have at least one of the two. If you're not a brewery that does barrel aging or sours, you'd better be pretty good at something else to stay popular. And Stone is good at something: Hops. But even as they keep cranking out great IPA after great IPA, they've been experimenting with barrels.

Stone began the Quingenti Millilitre series last year and released nine beers in the series in 2013 alone. Each beer was barrel aged, with the majority spending time in bourbon barrels. Which raised the logical Stone fanboy question: "So the Imperial Russian Stout is part of the program, right?" But last year passed with no sign of a barrel aged Imperial Russian Stout. Were they content with letting the mystique of the remaining barrel aged Imperial Russian Stout that's still out there linger? Or were they still haunted by the debacle that occurred 2 years ago when they released the beer, only to have to recall it immediately for quality issues? Turns out (luckily for yours truly) neither. Stone finally decided to re-release the Barrel Aged Imperial Russian Stout again this year, and it brought a friend- Barrel-Aged Espresso Imperial Russian Stout. Ummmm, boing! Let's dig in.



Stone Brewing Company - Fyodor's Classic (AKA Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Russian Stout)

Fyodor's Classic pours a used motor oil colored black and consistency, with a half-finger tan head that disappears back into the black pretty quickly. The bourbon shy need not apply here. The second you stick your nose near this beer, you get smashed in the face by huge notes of bourbon, charred oak and heavily roasted malt. If there's any sweetness to be found in here, it shows in the barest trace of vanilla and toffee, but they're quickly chased off by an angry mob of bourbon, anise and wet earth.

The taste opens with a wave of roasted malt and bourbon that absolutely bulldoze your sorry palate. The assault continues in the middle, where you're met with burnt coffee, charred wood and unsweetened baking chocolate. The finish rounds things out with some burnt fudge and a final dose of pure bourbon that's dry and lingering. This beer is unashamedly brash, undeniably huge and unquestionably awesome. 100% worth the wait.

Final Grade: A

Stone Brewing Company - Mikhail's Odd (AKA Bourbon Barrel-Aged Espresso Imperial 
 Russian Stout)

There was an approximate 0% chance of this beer sucking. How could it? The words "bourbon," "espresso," and "stout" just feel like they're supposed to be together. Oh, and they put a cat on the bottle. Like I said, 0% chance this was going to suck.

Mikhail's Odd pours black with a one finger khaki colored head that drops pretty quickly. The smell of bourbon was toned down a touch here, but the espresso was not. Even with almost a year in a barrel, the smell of espresso was remarkably strong. Under the espresso and bourbon notes were some vanilla, caramel, toffee, bourbon-laced oak, char and tobacco.

Similar to the standard version, Mikhail's Odd hits you right away with a pretty huge hit of bourbon. The bourbon carries through the middle of the beer, where it's matched by an equally impressive amount of espresso. The finish brings the barest touch of sweetness with some burnt espresso, fudge and burnt brownies. Even with that, the beer stays pretty dry throughout and the bourbon and espresso together are (as Salad Fingers would say) practically orgasmic. Stone absolutely killed it with Fyodor's Classic, but the espresso really takes it to another level. Awesome work, Stone.

Final Grade: A+

Top 250 Beers Tasted: 134

Stone Brewing Company - Dayman Coffee IPA

In my book, last year was a really good year for Stone. They released some awesome collaboration beers (the Mint Chocolate Imperial Stout and More Brown Than Black IPA being the highlights for me) and showed that they can still make incredible IPAs (Tenth Anniversary Ruination and Enjoy By IPAs were absolutely amazing). While I knew it was going to e really hard to follow up their efforts in 2012, I wondered what Stone had planned for 2013. When I heard what their first collaboration beer of the year was, I figured that Stone had gone off their rocker. A coffee IPA? Really, Stone? Still, after winning me back last year, I owed it to them to at least try this one.

Dayman IPA pours a dark burnt orange color with a creamy, one-finger tan head. I was pretty skeptical going into this one, but the smell gave me some hope. It brought an intriguing blend of intense citrusy hops and dark roasted coffee. While I would never have thought these things would go together, it just seemed to work. I caught some chocolate, tangerine rind and grapefruit in the smell as well. Interesting...

The first flavor that hits your palate is a blast of dark roasted coffee. But soon after comes a big hit of smooth citrus flavor. While I've never experienced coffee and citrus together in a beer before, something about the two elements just worked together. There was an insane blend of chocolate covered oranges, hazelnut, coffee and piney hops throughout the flavor. And it worked! The finish was silky smooth with a lingering coffee bitterness. I have no idea how they did it, but Stone pulled this off. What a great beer to lead off 2013. I can't wait to see what they're going to do this year.

Final Grade: A

Top 250 Beers Tasted: 115

Stone Brewing Company - Enjoy By IPA

I'll admit it- I haven't always been the biggest Stone fan. It probably stemmed from their incredibly arrogant (no pun intended) prose on many of their bottles without really having the beer to back it up. It's not that I hated their beers, but I felt that the quality of their product didn't really warrant the "My dick is miles bigger than your dick" attitude that Stone was putting forth. But recently, I've noticed a startling change over at Stone. Their beer is starting to catch up to their mouths. For me, it started with their More Brown Than Black IPA, then caught up even more with their Tenth Anniversary Ruination. And just when I thought they couldn't make a better beer, along came Enjoy By IPA.

The idea behind Enjoy By IPA is simple, if not genius: Make a beer that is impossible for the consumer NOT to consume fresh. Many breweries are starting to print "Best By" or "Bottled On" dates on their bottles, which is meant to show the consumer that the beer is fresh. By making the "Best By" date a part of the actual label, Stone has taken the beer freshness craze to a new level. A small (and often smudged) date stamp can be looked over, but a date on the actual label is absolutely impossible for the consumer to miss. And once the "Best By" date has passed, Stone releases a new batch with an entirely new label. It's genius. At #82, here's Enjoy By IPA.

Enjoy By IPA pours an absolutely beautiful deep golden color with a one finger bone white head. The smell brought loads of tropical fruit, with mango and pineapple coming out the most. I also got some candied orange, caramel and pine. The tropical fruit aromas reminded me a lot of one of my other favorite IPAs- Ballast Point's Sculpin.

The taste was a fantastic blend of tropical and pine hop flavors. A rich caramel malt held the hops in check and an almost buttery mouthfeel married the flavors seamlessly. The finish brought a huge load of pine hop resin, and really rounded out the flavors nicely. This is one of the better IPAs I've had. Stone, I stand corrected.

Final Grade: A

Top 250 Beers Tasted: 112

Stone Brewing Company - Stone 16th Anniversary IPA

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it to Stone's Anniversary Party this year. Due to prior commitments, I had to forgo the festivities, which bummed me out because the 15th Anniversary Celebration was a really good time. However, missing the party didn't stop me from trying Stone's newest anniversary beer. For this round, Stone decided to brew a double IPA with the addition of rye malt, Calypso and Amarillo hops and lemon verbena. If "lemon verbena" and "Stone" sound familiar together, it's because Stone also used lemon verbena in a collaboration brew with The Bruery and Elysian that was released late last year. That wasn't an IPA though, so I was a little curious how lemon verbena would work in an IPA.

Stone 16th Anniversary IPA pours a dark, amber color. It was definitely a lot darker than I'm used to in an IPA. A huge foamy tan head formed immediately and eventually settles to a nice half-finger cap. The smell was a pretty interesting blend of ingredients. I picked up a good amount of citrus hops and tropical fruit notes along with a fragrant blast of lemon hand soap. Some green hop oils lingered in the background.

The taste opens with a lot of citrus hop oils mixed with orange zest. Some lemon and woody notes peek out for a bit before a slightly bitter finish with some toasty malt. The higher alcohol definitely shows as the mouthfeel is a bit oily, not really letting the lemon or rye out very much. In my opinion, this would be a lot more interesting if it was kicked down to a single IPA at about 6-7% ABV instead of the 10% it currently stands at. The ingredients have potential, but don't really seem to be able to get past the high ABV. This is an interesting new take on the style and very worth trying, but has absolutely nothing on Stone's 15th Anniversary.

Final Grade: B-

Top 100 Beers Tasted: 39

Stone Brewing Company - Bottleworks 13th Anniversary Ale

While I may not be extremely partial to Stone Brewing Company's year round releases, I definitely have a soft spot for their one-off beers. I've tried every collaboration they've released in the past few years and feel like they're only getting better. Some didn't particularly impress me (Green Tea IPA, Cherry Chocolate Stout), but the last few that they've come out (particularly More Brown Than Black and TBA) have been outstanding. Their newest beer isn't part of their collaboration series, but it's in the same vein, nonetheless. Bottleworks 13th Anniversary is a beer that the guys from Bottleworks (a popular craft beer store in Seattle) brewed with Stone at Stone's brewery to be released to commemorate their 13th year in business. It uses an incredible number of ingredients, including 13 types of hops (Bravo, Target, Columbus, Cascade, Delta, Warrior, Magnum, Apollo, Calypso, Perle, Galena, Chinook, Mt. Hood) and 13 grains (Pale Two Row, White Wheat, Aromatic, Weyermann Chocolate Rye, Light Munich, Brown Crisp, Oats, Crisp Light Crystal, CaraMunich, Baird's Chocolate, Lightly Peated, Simpsons Dark Crystal, Crisp Amber). That is a whole lot going on.

Bottleworks 13th Anniversary Ale pours a dark, dark brown color with a thin light brown head. On the nose, I picked up a ton of darker smells: roasted malt, some dark chocolate, rye, cola nut and some bread. I don't know why, but I wasn't expecting all of the dark smells that this beer offered up.

If I had to describe the taste in one word, that word would have to be "busy." I guess that's not particularly surprising given the sheer number of ingredients used. I was a bit surprised to not pick up much of a hop presence at all, what with 13 hops being in this brew. Instead I picked up a huge malt sweetness with a ton of chocolate, caramel and rye. There was a bit of sticky citrus hop resin towards the finish, but it couldn't come close to balancing out all the heavy malt flavors. In the end, the sweetness coupled with a syrupy mouthfeel made this beer a bit wearing on the palate. I don't think this is one I'd go out of my way to recommend. Just a bit too much going on here for it to work.

Final Grade: C+


Top 100 Beers Tasted: 38

Best/Worst Beers of 2011

2011 has been a huge year for me as far as trying new beers is concerned. I was able to tick off 33 of beeradvocate's Top 100 Beers, tried hundreds of great new beers (and some not so great ones), and discovered some fantastic new breweries. So for my look back on 2011, here are the 5 best and worst beers I tried in 2011. So that this entry isn't just a rehashing of the Top 100 Beers list, these beers will all be beers that are not found on the list.


Best Beers of 2011


5. Brasserie Cantillon - Cantillon Rosé De Gambrinus

I'd heard a ton of good things about Cantillon and finally got to try my first one this year. Their raspberry lambic, Rosé De Gambrinus, absolutely lived up to the hype. I can't imagine a fruit beer smelling better than this one. Huge aromas of raspberry and red currant with just the right amount of funk. An absolutely fantastic beer.


4. Avery Brewing Company - Rumpkin

When I heard about this beer, I was convinced that it was going to be a mess. After all, a nearly 16% pumpkin beer aged in rum barrels couldn't taste good, right? As it turns out, I was way wrong. I loved everything about Rumpkin. The rum turned out to be the perfect complement to the sweetness of the pumpkin and pumpkin pie flavors. The high alcohol was evident, but worked beautifully in the beer. This one was a keeper. I'm definitely hoping to get more next year.


3. Great Lakes Brewing Company - Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter

I'm usually not a huge fan of porters. There are a few great ones out there, but I thought that the style wasn't really my thing. That is, until I went to Cincinnati earlier this year and got the chance to try Great Lakes' Edmund Fitzgerald Porter. Holy God, what a beer. I usually don't like smoke flavors in beer, but the smokiness in this beer was just fantastic. This remains my favorite porter ever and one I really want to try again soon.


2. Bell's Brewery, Inc. - Bell's Expedition Stout

I was able to get two 2008 bottles of Bell's Expedition Stout this year. Best...idea...ever. Apparently this beer isn't fantastic fresh, but holy crap is it good with three years under it. Smooth, full bodied and full of rich flavors, this beer has everything I could possibly hope for in a stout. I just wish I had more of it.


1. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Miles Davis' Bitches Brew

I reviewed this beer way at the beginning of the year, but it remains way up there on the list of beers I tried in 2011. Part Russian Imperial Stout, part Ethiopian honey beer, Bitches Brew was one incredible beer. Chocolate, coffee, earth and honey flavors coupled with a velvety-smooth mouthfeel to create a beer that is very tough to top.



Before I move on to the Worst of 2011 List, I want to note that the title may be a little misleading. I'm only including beers that I reviewed on this blog. I try to not buy/review crappy beer. Therefore, you won't find beers like Bud Light, Mickey's or Miller High Life on this list, even though I had them this past year and they were far worse than almost anything on this list. Most of these beers would not make the list if I included every beer I've tasted over the past year. Moving on...


Worst Beers of 2011


5. Steinhaus Brewing Co. - Jumping Cow Amber Ale

I'll admit it, Jumping Cow is far from being the worst beer out there. It's been a staple in the Trader Joes' beer section for longer than I've been with the company. My beef with this beer (no pun intended) is more that it's taking up space that should be taken by much better beer. The flavors are inoffensive, they're just so faint that it's tough to pick anything up. It's the quintessential "meh" beer: Not awful, not good, not...much of anything.


4. Stone Brewing Co. - Stone Belgo Anise Imperial Russian Stout

Ok, so I didn't do a full review on this one, but I mentioned it when I was reviewing it's much tastier cousin and I just have to include it here. I'm all for a brewery coming up with new variations on a good beer, but sometimes they're going to backfire, and this experiment did just that. The anise was literally all I could taste in this beer. It was gross. But not as gross as the next three beers, which would have made the "Worst Beers of 2011" list even if I had included beers like Mickey's and Bud Light.


The Bottom of the Barrel


3. Federal Jack's Brewpub - Kennebunkport Winter Ale

So many good winter ales out there, and I had to decide to try this one. Kennebunkport Winter Ale looked harmless enough after I poured it, but it got really, really ugly from there. I've never thrown together descriptions like "buttered popcorn," "metal" and "cardboard" when talking about one beer. The best part of this beer was when it was over. But it still wasn't as bad as the next two beers.



2. Pizza Beer Company - Mamma Mia! Pizza Beer

I tried this with my friend Beau a few months back and we both had similar reactions to it. Pizza Beer is, without a doubt, one of the worst beers in existence. It smells and tastes like week old pizza (and pizza box) that's been fermenting in Bud Light. I can't imagine finishing a bottle of this unless it was part of a dare with the prospect of a very, very big reward.


1. Federal Jack's Brewpub - Kennebunkport IPA

This may be a touch predictable based on how much I badmouth this beer, but it remains the worst beer I've had this year. Not only does Kennebunkport IPA not taste like an IPA, it tastes like a mixture of goat piss and rusty nails. I don't really know what else to say about it that I didn't already say in my review. Somehow I doubt that this is truly the worst beer out there, so I'm making it a goal in 2012 to find a beer that is worse than this.

Have a safe and happy New Years and get ready for some big reviews to open up 2012.

Cheers!

Top 100 Beers Tasted: 33